There was no cover-up, says Met chief

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Tributes to Mr de Menezes outside Stockwell station

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Sir Ian Blair: 'I am not going to resign'

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By Philip Johnston, Home Affairs Editor

12:05AM BST 19 Aug 2005

Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, last night denied that Scotland Yard tried to cover up the botched operation that led to the shooting of an innocent man on the London Underground last month.

As controversy raged over claims that he resisted attempts to set up an independent investigation into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, the Brazilian electrician shot seven times in the head by armed anti-terror officers, Sir Ian said the allegations "strike to the heart of the integrity" of his force. He added: "I fundamentally reject them. There is no cover-up. I am not going to resign. I have a job to do."

However, lawyers representing Mr de Menezes's family said there was a "fatal delay" in starting the official investigation and the Independent Police Complaints Commission said the Met had "initially resisted" handing over the inquiry. One member of the agency said the resulting delay was "shocking".

Sir Ian rejected any suggestion that there was a deliberate attempt to stop the truth coming out. Before it was known that Mr de Menezes was the victim, he wrote to Sir John Gieve, permanent secretary at the Home Office, asking for a review of its statutory duty to hand over the inquiry to the IPCC for fear that it might jeopardise the counter-terrorist operation.

Scotland Yard said that when the request was made on the day of the shooting, Sir Ian and other senior officers were still under the impression that a man linked to the London bomb attempts on July 21 had been killed.

''I and everyone who advised me believed that the man we had shot was a suicide bomber and therefore one of the four people we were looking for, or someone else. It seemed utterly vital that the counter-terrorism investigation took precedence, the forensics, the ballistics,'' Sir Ian said. "I'm not defending myself against making a mistake or being wrong, but I am defending myself against an allegation that I did not act in good faith and I reject utterly the concept of a cover-up. If you were going to define how to do a cover-up you would not write a letter to the permanent secretary of the Home Office, copying it to the chairman of the Metropolitan Police Authority and the chairman of the IPCC.''

After conversations with the Home Office, it was agreed that the investigation would be handed over to the IPCC on the following Monday but the commission did not start its work until July 27.

Yesterday the IPCC said: "The Metropolitan Police Service initially resisted us taking on the investigation but we overcame that. It was an important victory for our independence. This dispute has caused delay in us taking over the investigation but we have worked hard to recover the lost ground.''

Tony Murphy, an independent member of the IPCC advisory group, said: ''In any investigation into a death, any evidence collected during the golden hours is crucial . . . The idea of the police not contacting the watchdog in such controversial circumstances is shocking.''

Gareth Peirce, one of the lawyers for the family, called for a public inquiry to sort out the "chaotic mess". She said: "A public inquiry is the only kind of inquiry that can deal effectively with the big policy issues brought up in this case."

Ken Livingstone, London's mayor, leapt to Sir Ian's defence and praised him for leading the Met through its "most difficult challenge" after the capital's worst terrorist atrocity. "The police have done a brilliant job in tracking down those responsible for the bombings and in reassuring Londoners going about their daily lives," Mr Livingstone said.